Namdeb secures new mine

Local diamond giant, Namdeb announced this week that it has started construction of a new N$280 million mine at Sendelingsdrif on the Orange River.The announcement comes at a time when the diamond miner is scaling down operations at its other mine, Deberas located within the same mining licence area as Sendelingsdrif because of dwindling land resources. The new mine, located in the Sperrgebiet National Park, is expected to produce 45 000 carats at full production projected to be around the fourth quarter of 2013.Namdeb CEO, Inge Zamwaani told reporters on Thursday that the new mine will create job opportunities for about 200 hundred people while securing Namdeb’s position as the premier diamond mining company in the country. She added that successful implementation of the project will contribute to Namdeb’s vision of having sustainable operations beyond 2050. She said: “The new mine will generate much needed funds for further development of other strategic projects required in order to achieve this vision. Part of this vision is to support the Namibian economy through our operations, in order to provide employment and be a good corporate citizen.General manager, Riaan Burger said Namdeb expects to produce around 600,000 carats this year at its land based operations. Production targets for offshore mining operations were not immediately available.Burger allayed fears of looming retrenchments in the short term despite the scaling down of operations at Deberas mine. He said: “There are definitely no retrenchments in the short term. We are not there yet. First we need to concentrate on getting our unit costs down but in the long term you must know that any mine has got a finite life.”